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Saturday, December 1, 2018

The Christmas Duet Blog Tour with Stories by Rebekah Morris and Faith Blum

Rebekah Morris and Faith Blum have
teamed up for a fun Christmas Duet Blog Tour! Why Christmas Duet?
Because both books have titles that have to do with a Christmas song!
Be sure to check out all of the blog posts as well as the giveaway.

His Law is Love

My Thoughts:

I've been reading Rebekah's books for a number of years. I think that His Law is Love is my favorite yet. I stayed up too late to read another page! The characters and the plot of this book was so engaging, I'd like to see Rebekah expand this book into a full-length novel with these characters. One of my favorite Christmas reads this year. Short and attention grabbing.

Book Description:

Will hate and fear drown the song of
Christmas love?

Amelia is eagerly anticipating her
first Christmas in the west, but she soon finds that her
brother-in-law's worry and her sister's exhaustion reach far deeper
than the cares of a ranch and a family. A rash of fires and cattle
thefts is plaguing the area, and the three young orphans they've
sheltered are under suspicion from their prejudiced neighbors.

As hostilities mount, Amelia seizes
every opportunity to help and encourage, but how much can one girl
do? Will Reverend Brown win the community over to the true spirit of
love? And will help arrive before everything they hold dear is
destroyed?

Book Excerpts:

#1:

“It’s
a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ware,” Matt said, bowing slightly. “I
hope we will be seeing more of you. There aren’t many young ladies
around here and very few as lovely as you are.”

Amelia
felt her cheeks grow hot but hoped it wouldn’t be noticed. “I
don’t know if I’ll be in town much, I’m afraid,” she replied,
glancing down the street.

“That’s
a pity,” Nick said. “Where does your sister live?”

“At
the Macy ranch.”

A
sudden silence filled the street. Had she said something wrong or
strange?

“Have
you been to the ranch yet?” Matt asked at last.

“No,
I’ve only just arrived.”

The
young men seemed visibly relieved. “Then perhaps you can talk some
sense into your brother-in-law and sister.”

Amelia
raised her eyebrows. Sense? What were these men talking about?

“They’ve
taken in some half-breeds, but everyone knows they can’t keep
them.”

“Why
not?”

“The
whole town is against it. All Indians do is cause trouble, and
there’s been talk,” Matt took a step closer and lowered his
voice, “that the half-breeds have connections with some other
Indians who are burning barns and stealing cattle.”

#2:

Her
attention was arrested by the minister’s deep baritone voice.
“Christmas is only a little more than two weeks away, and at this
time of year I am reminded of the words of my favorite Christmas
song.” He stepped to the side of the pulpit and began to recite the
words, but before he had reached the third line, the melody rolled
from him and filled the church.

“Long
lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till
He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A
thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices,

For
yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;”

A
thrill–was it of hope?–raced through Amelia, and she caught her
breath as the voice seemed to shake the rafters of the church as the
minister launched into the refrain.

Not
a sound was to be heard when the minister, having finished the first
stanza and chorus resumed his place and looked around on his
congregation.

“Have
you fallen on your knees before the King lately? Have you realized
that your soul is not the only soul to have worth? Is not the soul of
your neighbor worth as much as your own? Did not our Savior come to
save his soul too? As this holy night, this night divine, approaches,
let us remember why Christ came.”

Author Bio:

Rebekah A. Morris is a homeschool
graduate, an enthusiastic freelance author and a passionate writing
teacher. Her books include, among others, Home Fires of the Great
War, The Unexpected Request, Gift from the Storm,
the Christmas Collection series, and her best selling Triple
Creek Ranch series. Some of her favorite pastimes, when she isn’t
writing, include reading, playing with her seven nieces and nephews,
and coming up with dramatic and original things to do. (Sometimes
with the nieces and nephews!) The Show-Me state is home.

~~~~~

Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Other Short Stories

My Thoughts: Faith Blum's writing is new to me. If not for this Christmas Duet Blog Tour, I may not have found her. O Come All Ye Faithful is a collection of Christmas short stories that will delight you in the time it takes to light the tree and drink a big cup of homemade cocoa. Although the circumstances are often bad, these stories show that God can bring good in our lives.

Book Description:
Short stories with big problems to solve and interesting characters to do it. Feel good stories for winter days.O Come All Ye Faithful

Edwin wanted to be home, but instead he
crouched in a trench. The English on one side of No Man’s Land and
Germans on the other. What a way to spend Christmas. Could anything
make it better?

Peace on Earth

Emmie and Elana are estranged sisters,
torn apart by an old boyfriend five years earlier. Will they survive
a night in the same hotel room after a blizzard forces them together
or will peace on earth go out the window?

Silent Night

Christmas decorating had never gone
this wrong. Jenna had just started when a crazy, gun-waving woman,
walks right in the front door and ties her up in her own Christmas
lights. Will Jenna even see her family this Christmas?

The Gift Goes On

Four friends and a year to reflect on.
The year had been good for Carlotta, but Priscilla, Remus, and Newton
all had at least one trial through the year. A mysterious giver the
previous year had helped them all out, though. What would this year’s
gifts bring?

O Christmas Tree

Gareth loves Christmas. But more than
that, he loves Christmas tree hunting. As the family prepares for
their annual trip, Gareth can barely contain his excitement. But what
are all the spray bottles for?

Edwin blinked
against the dim light of the dawn. What had awakened him this time? A
dull boom in the distance startled him. Distant or not, that boom was
much too close for comfort. Who had fired their artillery and where?
It was far enough away to not be a danger to him or his men, but if
it was the Germans, that meant another company was getting artillery
shells lobbed at them.

Not for the first
time, Edwin wished he lived back during the days of King Arthur.
Boulders catapulting toward him would be preferable to the
devastation from a shell. He had always imagined boulders would be
easier to see and move away from. If he couldn’t, then being
crushed had to be better than shrapnel. He shuddered as memories of
the army hospital tents came back.

The captain
shouted orders to them and Edwin bit back a groan. Another day,
another fight, another depressing… Wait, it was Christmas Eve. Not
that it mattered, but being gloomy on this holiday was not something
his sister would approve of. A smile flitted across his grim face. It
didn’t stick, but that tiny seed of hope lifted his spirits just a
little.

Excerpt #2:

As she approached
the South Dakota border, black clouds billowed up out of nowhere. A
shot of fear ran up and down her spine. It couldn’t be that bad,
could it? Black clouds could mean anything. Emmie turned her CD off
and radio on. She searched until she came across an emergency weather
bulletin.

Emmie tuned out
the weather forecaster. Blizzard? Just her luck. Was she even in one
of those counties? She couldn’t take the chance. But what about her
reservation in Rapid City, South Dakota? It didn’t matter. What did
matter was her safety.

She pulled off the
interstate at the next exit and drove into the small town. The snow
had started to fall heavily and she slowed down, trying to see if
there were any hotels or motels. She found one and breathed in
relief.

As she entered the
hotel, a light caught the edge of her vision. “No Vacancy,” the
sign read. Great. Just great. Maybe she could still find a way to
stay there. Or at least they would know where another hotel would be.

The hotel clerk
looked at her with weary eyes. “Sorry, miss, we’re full up.”

“I saw that, but
I’ve never been to town. I wonder if you could direct me to another
place or even call ahead for me.”

The clerk leaned
his elbows on the counter. “I wish I could, but the phone lines are
down already. Keep driving and you’ll find something.”

Excerpt #3:

The Christmas
lights corded tightly around Jenna’s ankles and wrists. The crazy
woman had even plugged them in, giving her body an absurd prettiness
considering the situation.

The gun-waving
woman gave a slow, self-satisfied smile. “Oh, I must have been good
this year. Santa has given me a lovely gift. Many of them, actually.”

Jenna closed her
eyes. “Santa isn’t real.”

The woman glared
at Jenna. “Of course he is. He’s always brought me either
presents or coal. Every year, even when I have no one else around in
the house. I was told by all the kids about those fairy tales of
Santa not being real, but how does that explain how I always got a
present even when neither of my parents had been in the house with me
for weeks? Or as I got older and moved away and had no one living
with me, I always ended up with presents under my tree.

“Why are you
decorating so late in the season, anyway?”

Jenna’s eyes
flew open at the question that came directly into her ear. “I… I
recently moved out of my parents’ house and didn’t want to get
anything unnecessary like decorations. I also thought Christmas would
be at their house, but they decided to come here, so now I need to
decorate.”

“When are they
arriving?”

Was it a sin to
lie under duress?

About the Author:

Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She’s lived in, or outside of, small towns her whole life. The thought of living in a city with more than 60,000 people in it scares her, especially after some interesting adventures driving through big cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Faith currently resides in the middle of the state of Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. She is blessed to be able to have writing as her full-time career with household work and cooking to do on the side. She loves to paint walls as long as she doesn’t have to do hallways or ceilings.

When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies (fun), doing dishes (meh), knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband (yay!). She is also a Community Assistant for the Young Writers Workshop and loves her work there. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website.

Dear Cheryl, It's so good to hear from you. I'm enjoying the Thanks Living and Advent and Christmas seasons all rolled together. I hope you find joy in every day. Please contact me soon privately so that I know how to pray for your family. Hugs to you,Laura

Hi Penny, Many of the details were provided by the authors as part of the blog tour. I will be sharing a post with all of my Christmas reading so far this season in a day or two.Have a wonderful Christmas,Laura

Thank you for praying for me! Thank you for encouraging me so much through this cancer treatment. I have the best blog friends in the world! Yes! You!

I read all your comments and respond as I can right now. Please make sure I have your email if you want me to respond or pray for you. For some reason Blogger isn't notifying me of comments right now, so I may be a bit slower.

God bless you all! This life only works with Jesus. The next life is a continuation of this one—make sure you spend it with Jesus. Jesus is the only way to God the Father!

I'm a breast cancer surviving,
homeschooling, Jesus loving, mom to four children and wife to my high school sweetheart for 32 years...doing what I can with what I've got where I am
on a short shoestring budget!
ஐღLauraღஐ

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